watchin' my weight Wednesday

This hand-me-down trampoline has been a fun way for me to get some extra activity. Our neighbor (who's kids are almost all done with high school0 said we could have it. Paul, my neighbor and one of his sons carried it from their house to ours. Completely put together, like a giant table, around the corner, down our street, to our back yard. So funny. If you don't jump on one of these regularly, get ready for some serious calf pains and ab work (not sure if it is from laughing or the jumping?!).

Anyway, I have been going to a spinning class once a week in addition to my running/jogging. I discovered spinning after Zoe was born and I loved it then, and love it now. I would go every day except that doesn't fit our schedule. I'll settle for once a week, some is better than none, right?! Again, anyway, I was there Tuesday at 5:45 AM (just bragging on my own self for getting up that early to go) and the instructor kept telling us to get water as we rode our long endurance ride. I was doing as I was told and then she said, "if you have a headache at the end of the day, and you don't think it is caused by your kids or your job or your spouse, it is probably because you are dehydrated." Seriously?! I have had a headache for about a month straight. I don't get headaches a lot so I have been thinking I have a tumor or something like terrible allergies. I hate taking medicine of any kind so realizing I could stop taking Advil and drink some extra water sounds like heaven. Then I got to thinking some more, all this extra activity might be making me dehydrated! I always drink a lot of water but I have been trying to move more and it makes total sense. Duh, right? Sometimes you need someone to knock you in the head, kind of like those V8 commercials, I feel so dumb not realizing the problem. So I sit here with my water nearby, chugging away, hoping to prevent anymore headaches and improve my health at the same time. Excuse me while I run to the bathroom for the tenth time today...

sniff sniff

He looks happy, but really he is bummed UK lost too. I'll still be rooting for them next October when the season starts again.

spring break

It's spring break for Zoe so my entries may be short this week, she is not happy about me being in front of the computer. Her delusional self thinks I should be spending every waking minute entertaining her, crafting huge projects, baking, shopping, playing beauty shop and whatever else she concocts as fun, so what that two other little guys might need me...

Here is a sneak peak of my April Get-Organized Challenge... Tanner was getting an early start on sorting.

This one is for Sarah, yes, I got them out and wore them after I read your shoe post (your blog does inspire!), yes, I thought of you when I put them on, yes I took the picture as I was wearing them, which explains why it looks funkadelic, yes, I made sure I was struttin' as I wore them. Oh, I am thinking of braving the Brass Armadillo this week too, since it is spring break and all, I could use some inspiration and maybe a tiny project or two... like I don't have anything else to do.
Wow, do my legs look chunky in those tights! Let's just blame it on the angle. I did get three compliments on them, the boots, not the legs, the day I wore them.

March Get Organized Challenge

Well, I did it. I accepted my own challenge. Here is my newly organized linen closet... no more games and puzzles trying to leap to their deaths, no more blankets we don't use, no more useless Space Bags (sorry, I really wanted to love those things, they just didn't have lasting quality for me), no more embarrassment. In fact, I have been leaving the doors open so I can enjoy my work and to keep showing the kids and hubby. Really, I just want them to say how wonderful it looks, but they could care less.

It looks really sparse right now because I am hoping potential buyers will look in there and see unused space and think it is cavernous. In reality, if we were not trying to sell our home, I might have a couple more things in here. I have some photo boxes looking for a home...
This bucket has been many things in its life, now it holds goggles, swim diapers, and a couple pool toys. We have a lot more pool and swimming supplies but I only get those out in the summer. These are the basics used for indoor swimming at the YMCA during the winter. It sits right next to the beach towels, that way, hubby can't say "where are the pool toys (or towels)" when he is helping get ready to go.
These are the extra sheets we have. Everyone has one extra set in case I have to do emergency changing in the middle of the night (I am an expert after all our stomach flus.). Usually, I just wash them and put them right back on the beds, that way I don't have to fold them. When I set out to reorganize this space, I had visions of gorgeous Longaberger (you know I love them) baskets with cute denim liners and then reality hit. I don't have the cash flow for that much beauty, if I did, I'd be spending it on myself! So I hit Walmart. These are really cheap craft baskets. I wanted the ones that are rectangular because they would fit better on a shelf but they were like $20 a piece, these were $5. AND I know when we move to our teeny new house we might not even have a linen closet so I was worried about shelling out money for things we probably wouldn't be using in a short while. So anyway, my mind's vision was way better than how it turned out but I still like the result. Again, labels are to help hubby when he can't find sheets.

The round things are sleeping bags. My kids play with these all the time so I can't hide them in the basement. We use them for watching movies and playing camping so they have to be accessible. Yes, my spoiled diva daughter has two (hence pink ones) and Tanner doesn't have one yet. It looks weird to have two girly things when I really have two boys. She will have to choose one to purge soon, I can't stand to have extras of things like this, just annoying. Anyway. The plaid boxes hold my table cloths for the dining room and kitchen. They used to be in Tanner's room holding baby toys but they are kind of flimsy, everytime we got something out, they were collapsing. So I decided they'd be better used here since really I won't be using them a lot. Does that make sense?
The yellow towels are "guest" towels even though we don't have a guest bathroom anymore. It's good to have extra towels for the kids, I guess. They are miss matched but they are all in good shape because we hardly ever use them.

That's it, my big project is done for the month. I have a new one planned for next month. Stay tuned. Did you accept my challenge? I hope maybe you got inspired to do a little project, even if it isn't this one.

Have a nice weekend. We woke up to snow, are you kidding me?! And the freakish wind blew our recycling stuff all over the street, then it rained, then the papers froze to the ground. So now I have to wait for the weather to warm up before I can go pick up trash on my street. Grr, it is always something...

My Wildcats won! Elite Eight baby!!!

realtor disaster

It has taken me a couple days to get this all down, because I am still so mad...

For my friends who are listing their homes on the market (you know who you are):

We've had our house on the market for almost a year now. We just had to fire our second realtor. That's two bad Realtors in a year. Not good odds.

We set up a video camera during our last open house so we could hear exactly what visitors were saying, not the edited "nice" version from our realtor. We were also very concerned about safety/theft (we've been hearing lots of horror stories about what happens after people have open houses.) What we heard was shocking, not from the potential buyers but from the realtor, the lady who was supposed to be working for us! The lady who, if she sold our house, would walk away with more money than we did at closing! She was basically telling all the visitors the things about our house that were wrong, not pointing out positives (which I think are a lot!), not encouraging them to make offers, none of the stuff Realtors are supposed to do. She was telling people that "our house would have sold if our basement was finished" before they even asked about the basement!!!! Not once did she point out all the pluses of our house.

I know I am biased because we live here, we built this house, it definitely has our "stamp" on it, but I happen to think my house is beautiful with lots of upgrades that are not overly apparent at first so I can't believe she would be so nasty. (for example: our home has smooth ceilings, not the patterned plaster so prevalent in newer homes, this was an expensive upgrade that we choose because it is more in lines with our traditional taste, it shows classic and elegant, something you don't notice right away but if pointed out, you think "wow, that does look good, it really makes a difference." She knew about all our upgrades because I typed up a huge list and gave them to her so she could tell others.) There are many, many more I could share but I don't want to do that here. This is our dream home, our once in a lifetime home, we'll never have another house like this one again. Ever. No one has ever said anything bad about our house to us, not that they would, but still. I know there is room for improvement but I do love it here. The fact is, this lady did not have good intentions, she did not have faith in our home, and it makes me so mad, sad, furious, you get the idea.

I mean, seriously, I worked my butt off to get ready for the open house, staying up late cleaning, letting my kids watch tv so I could de-clutter, running myself ragged, crying when my dog got diarrhea again, (I wasn't crying because he was sick, I was crying because I had to clean up more messes!) and she was not telling them how great our house is! Are you kidding me?! We had no idea she was like this, a total wolf in sheep's clothing. This woman was recommended to us by friends, who obviously didn't know she was like this either!

So now we are back to the drawing board and it really just stinks. We are missing out on times our house could be shown while the tax credit is still in effect and this is prime home buying season, man does that really burn me up. I have big plans to write a nasty letter to her superiors, I just don't know where to start, I am still completely flabbergasted. So I guess I am just saying, be careful everyone. In this economy, you don't need any more things that negatively effect the sale of your home. There are just too many factors in the home selling/buying market to consider. Having a shit*y realtor should not be your concern.

Oh, and she yelled at our bird to "shut up." Twice. Not acceptable.

date night

Why, hello there, total hottest guy alive! (Except for my hubby of course!) I can't wait for our date tonight, wink wink!

So excited to see Michael Buble tonight, mmm, yummy.

don't know why his picture has disappeared?!

truly disturbing

Just when I thought I couldn't be shocked by any more bad behavior from people in the world (long story- will share tomorrow)...

I saw this on a bumper sticker today:

"I f**k on the first date."

Except it was totally spelled out, no asterisks, are you serious people? Oh, I swear I could have jumped out of the car and smacked the driver and said, "does your mother know you have this on your car?" I am no prude by any means, I like to think of myself as a former wild-ish child with liberal views on most things, but seriously, this is way out of line. I am so thankful Zoe was at school and I didn't have to explain that one to her. I am so thankful that Parker can't read. I am so thankful that someday if my kids have that on their cars, I will literally smack them and take away the keys forever. Ugh, still bugging me, hours later.

lots to do

So much to do this weekend, hopefully I will get a chance to enjoy this nice weather.

stuff going on:

Two fundraisers/silent auctions

basketball games (to watch Wildcats and attend for PJ)

open house (must clean whole house again!)

Brownie meeting

New Moon DVD release (hopefully I'll finally get to watch it!)

tons and tons of errands

oh, and I want to run outside at least twice

whew

better go get busy...

update: I got most of this done, except watching "New Moon." maybe this weekend, since we have less scheduled, have to fit it in between basketball games, Go Wildcats! Go Buckeyes! (that's for my hubby ;)

a quickie

Here is a quickie organizing project I did this week...

Close up shot

The whole bottom- far away shot, don't you hate stinkin' power cords?! Grr, so annoying and ugly!

Parker was watching a movie and I noticed that our armoire was a MESS! OK, so I didn't reallly "notice" per say, I knew it was a mess, I was in serious denial. Before I knew what I was doing, I had emptied the whole thing and was making piles (keep, trash, donate) and dusting like a mad woman. I couldn't help myself. It all happened so fast, I forgot to take a before picture, sorry blog gals who like to compare. Just trust me, it was baaaaaad! I threw out a lot of trash, old movies that didn't work, instruction sheets, etc. I have decided to donate all the old VHS movies, we never watch them and the only ones I kept were our home movie ones (which I hope to get converted to DVD someday). I also took all the old remotes and stored them in the basement with other stuff from this cabinet (like extra cords, product sheets, stuff we might need someday but doesn't need to be in this cabinet). The blue boxes hold my exercise DVDs (hence my small dumbbells and pilates circle- my bigger weights are in the basement by the treadmill- these are only for DVDS) and our few home movies. I will say, I have had these boxes for a long time. I originally bought them for another area (one is being used there now) and I had them kind of laying in my closet because I was mad, they were kind of a pain to put together. Now that I have them together, I must say, I like them. I like the blue color and the metal trim is cute. They are from Wal-mart, super cheap, but you do have to put them together, so kind of a trade off. The little white basket holds our Wii stuff. We seriously don't use our Wii very often so we don't have a lot of games and controllers. I was going to put the supplies in one of the lidded boxes but I figured the kids would trash them. Anyway, I am happy with how this looks. It's one of those things I sat and stared at for a year or so and kept telling myself it would get done. It feels good to be done. On to the next thing...

It's March and you know what that means for me....

Go Big Blue!

Love my Wildcats, hope they win today, you know what I'll be doing at 7:15 tonight.

watchin' my weight Wednesday

Tanner digging in to the pot of goldLucky the Leprechaun left this pot of "gold" for the kids. They found it after a series of clues led them around the house. It's things like this that make it next to impossible for me to maintain healthy weight. Right now, the pot is hidden from Tanner. That's what I told Zoe and Parker, really it is hidden from me! Out of sight means out of mind for me.

On another note, I am desperately trying to fit in my daily workout. Doing it after the kids went to bed wasn't working. I found that if they went to sleep late or someone was sick I just couldn't get to the treadmill. The good part of working out at that time was getting to watch some awesome TV, like "The Bachelor" and VH1 shows my hubby doesn't like. So this week I have been trying to get up at 5 and run or go to the YMCA. Wow, I am so old. I used to do this all the time in my younger days without so much as a blink. I am so exhausted from getting up early (and getting up multiple times with Tanner at night) that I am seriously delirious. I'm going to keep at it for a while and see if I get used to the early rising. Only about a month left until my 5K.

Zzzzzz

Oh, how I wish this was me. Been getting up early to exercise and it is seriously kicking my butt. It is next to impossible to get up at 5 AM when this little guy likes to party all night long. So sleepy...

blah blah blah

Random stuff I am thinking about:

1. We went out to eat last night. I had a tiny side salad and a cup of soup (not a bowl) and my meal totaled over 700 calories. Are you freakin' kidding me, I didn't even put dressing on my salad and I took the croutons and cheese off? Paul had an Asian-ish dish, chicken, rice, veggies, and his was over 2300 calories!!! I came home and looked on the restaurant's web site and the info was right there, no wonder all of America is getting fatter and unhealthier. Yuck, makes me never want to eat out again.

2. Going out to eat is not fun with a baby and two more kids.

3. I want Lady Gaga's body. Not in the primal sense, I literally want to cut her head off and put mine on. I used to crave Fergie's body, but I watched Gaga on VH1 this morning while running off my 700 calorie soup and salad and I noticed her body is freakin' awesome. Although I do remember her saying she stays thin by "not eating." OK, so that won't work for me but I can dream.

4. Spring needs to get here now. I am done freezing my hoochie coochie off.

5. Trying to sell a house right now (in this retched economy) sucks. I am sick of worrying about it and cleaning all the time.

6. I am really not grumpy today, (I am a little sleepy.) even though I sound like I am, I think I am still in shock over my 700 calorie salad and soup (did I mention, it was a cup, not a bowl?!).

7. I have this amazing urge to purge lots of unused items, will someone come and take my kids for a weekend so I can work uninterrupted? (And I don't want them to see me getting rid of their stuff.)

8. I am going to go "watch" Scooby Doo with Parker. (really I am going to snooze on the couch while he watches, seriously, I am so tired!)

XOXO

Zoe at her competition last weekend, don't you just love the big girl makeup and missing tooth!? So cute.

My mind is kind of blank today. Well, not really, I have about a million things swirling around that I want/need to think about/do. Maybe that's why I can't think of anything blog-worthy. So here's a hug to all my blog friends, have a nice weekend.

still loving couponing

*see note

I am so happy today. I just got home from the grocery and I saved over $90 (coupons, sales, store loyalty card)! Wow, just wanted to brag on myself.

*picture is totally unrelated, just like that I am smiling and holding my baby, ignore bad hair please, this was after my bad experience at Great Clips*

watchin' my weight Wednesday

Watchin' my weight Wednesday...

Whew, thank goodness for warmer weather. I have been able to jog outside a couple times which should help me as I prepare for my upcoming road race. I am hoping that scheduling this race for myself will keep me motivated to run/jog. One thing I have learned while Weight Watcher-ing is that having small goals (running a race) enable me to reach/maintain my big goals (not gaining weight and being healthy).

On another note, how are you doing on the March get organized challenge? Here is a sneak peek of what I have been doing for my linen closet...

Don't you hate it when your reality doesn't always match your vision? I had planned on making these tags in my newly organized linen closet and I must say the ones in my mind were way cuter. A lot of my craft projects turn out that way. I envision them a certain way and they don't quite translate. Oh well, at least they are done. I hope to be done next week. I have certainly purged a lot (Goodwill, here I come) and I have a big pile to put in the basement (in designated areas of course!).

dance competition

Zoe is second from the left...

Just a shot of a recent dance competition to share... allow me to be gratuitious in sharing my daughter's joy and passion and her total divaness.

This is their "Charlie Brown" routine. So cute! Their "hair" is supposed to look like Lucy's, it didn't photograph well, but they look so cute when they are all together and our buddy Noah is Charlie. Our last competition was Sunday, that night I had dreams of constantly changing Zoe's costume and adjusting her makeup, do you think I was a little exhausted?!

reducing sugar

I read about this on a cool blog (Clover Lane- sorry don't have the exact link right now)...

I made chocolate chip cookies today and reduced the sugar required by 1 cup, I swear you cannot tell the difference. I promise, my kids have eaten about 4 cookies each, and they have not commented other than to say, "mmmm". The true test will be my cookie monster hubby, if he doesn't complain, I am going to reduce the sugar in all our baking, seriously do we need any more of the sweet stuff? Don't tell my family, they hate it when I try new things that might be good for them.

Here's Clover Lane:

http://memoriesoncloverlane.blogspot.com/

cute

Just something cute... Tanner playing with a baby doll (this is Parker's baby "Ben" who is very well loved around here).

Someday I'll be able to use these as blackmail I think.

March Get Organized Challenge

I started blogging a couple years ago because one of my friends kept telling me I should share all my little tips for making things more organized. This has been my venue to share some of those tips but mostly I rant and rave about grocery shopping hell and stomach flu woes. Well, I thought I'd offer a challenge for March and include myself in the challenge.

CUE: Star Wars Theme music (wish I was tech savvy enough to actually have the music playing)

You are about to enter some uncharted territory...

Da Da Da (dramatically read that please)

My Linen Closet!

Can you believe it? I actually growl when I open the doors, I hate it so much. The games and puzzles have taken over, there is no room for actual linens!
Those are my Space Bags up there (holding extra pillows and blankets) that have lost their powers, I can't even reach up there without a stool so who knows what is up there.
That is some extra craft supplies and travel bags and baby safety stuff. How does this stuff find a home here? I have no idea!
Here, the beach towels are exploding and the Hungry Hungry Hippos look like they are going to commit suicide by plunging to their deaths, "I promise little hippo guys, it will get better!"

OK, seriously, a year ago, this thing was clean. As you can see, it is anything but now. Here's the full view! (dramatic music insert here)

I am challenging you to take the month of March and clean your linen closet as well. I promise to post pictures of mine as soon as I am finished. Maybe my work will inspire you to declutter, purge, sort, alphabetize, however you decide to organize. I am hoping to move the games, purge unused linens, and find a spot to house my dining room table cloths because they are really big and I don't like storing them in my china cabinet. So there, even an "organized mommy" has unorganized spaces, just don't tell anyone! And while I'm at it, I might even send those darn Space Bags back, what the heck, aren't they supposed to be flat giving you so much extra space?!

Seriously?!?!

Watchin' my weight Wednesday...

I got this in the mail Monday. A whole box of delicious Weight Watchers yummy treats and coupons.

I have finished the first two training sessions as a Weight Watchers receptionist and I love it. I simply love interacting with the members and it makes me feel like I am helping people who need help besides my family (not that they don't need my help of course). I am excited to finish training and hopefully begin working at a regular meeting, maybe even I'll be a leader, someday. In the meantime, I have to say the folks at Weight Watchers are killin' me! I am working hard to maintain my "lifetime" status and they send me this box! It is a "thank you" to employees for all our hard work at meetings. Nothing like getting a curve ball thrown at you.

On the other hand, I think we are all getting better and I am again, starting my running routine. I found a 5k race in April that I want to do so I will keep you posted (maybe even share a finish line photo!). I have learned that exercising daily is the only way to help me maintain my weight, maybe because I love these yummy treats?! ;)

craving "normal"

I cannot wait for things to get back to normal. I have been saying that for so long I don't think I even know what normal is anymore. I know I said I wouldn't talk about it anymore, but the stomach flu is BACK! This time, my husband has been so sick I forced him to go to the doctor. This is his second round of the flu and the doctor actually prescribed medicine to help him. He probably (we'll know in a couple days, that is health care in America- don't get me started!) has this god-awful stomach bacteria that is actually fatal if not treated. Yes, FATAL! OK, I am really mad at our doctors and instead of going off about how they have let my poor baby be sick for over three weeks with probably the same thing, I will just leave it at I am furious with them and I am definitely going to do something about how I feel when everyone is better. (Just by the way, if you ever have to have your "samples" tested, make sure the lab tests for all the bacterias, not just a few of them, in case you have the FATAL one, they did not test Tanner's for this, and well, anyway...)

So I am ready to be done with the flu, ready to have everyone healthy again, ready for normal.

Moral of the story: wash your hands, a lot!!!